


New Path

by GingerEnvy



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bounty Hunter!Clint, F/M, Jedi!Bobbi, Star Wars AU, Unrequited Love, angsty Clint, assassin!Clint, change of heart, change of path
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 08:19:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6947326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerEnvy/pseuds/GingerEnvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The background for an RP that got WAY out of hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Path

Bobbi Morse was probably one of the most beautiful creatures he’d ever laid eyes on in the whole galaxy, in all of his time travelling, no one could compare to her.

Long blonde hair pulled back in a tight braid, Jedi robes white and black, blue eyes bright fierce and sure. Her skills as a Jedi were top notch and her faith in the order unwavering. 

He respected and admired her for that, but at the same time was a bit resentful of it all the same, but he wasn’t going to do anything to make her unhappy.

Though Clint hadn’t always thought that, it had taken a long time and some understanding and effort before any sort of good relationship was between them.

And if looked at from the beginning, it seemed almost impossible for that to be the case...

The jobs for a bounty Hunter were abundant in the middle of a war, he was able to pick and choose what he wanted due to his infamy. Among the Separatists he was known as a ‘hero’, he’d taken out a few outspoken senators and been paid incredibly well for it. But he didn’t often do that, mostly because he really didn’t want that kind of attention, but he was the best, and it couldn’t even be proven that he was the one who had done it. He was very good at what he did. That didn’t stop rumors running rampant of course.

Among the Republic he was definitely a criminal, a well known criminal? Probably not, but the whispered tales of Hawkeye the Assassin were likely still told to all in the Senate and outside of it, simply because he posed as such a danger to all of them, from what they believed anyway.

However just as all bounty hunters, he had no allegiance, he would take a job from either side if it paid him enough, and he’d taken out a few Separatists as well, but that wasn’t talked about as much. But he really wasn’t picky, why should he be? He made money, and that apparently was all that really mattered in the universe. He’d learned that young.

He’d shut down all feelings that would lead to him caring about anything else.

And while Clint knew what he was doing was wrong, he did try to only take marks that were questionably good, people who weren’t what they appeared to be. He didn’t want innocent blood on his hands. As much as he liked to think of himself as uncaring, he still knew better than to kill those who really had done no wrong. He wasn’t going to be like the men who had stolen his brother’s life, too early and right in front of him.

Clint didn’t want to be that kind of evil.

At least he tried not to be.

All of the marks he’d taken out so far, he’d watched, he’d researched and he’d seen very morally ambiguous or down right awful things. While saying he was justified in killing them was definitely pushing it, he still was trying to rationalize it. Because deep down, if he thought about it too hard, he knew he’d be disgusted with himself.

So...he didn’t think, he just did and he would carry on doing until he was killed.

Currently he was tailing a mark, one he still wasn’t sure he wanted to take out or not, he had very little information on them, and apparently all they had done was just piss off the wrong person, and that wasn’t enough for him to carry out the whole mission yet.

He was creeping along the edge of a building when he suddenly felt like he was being followed. He continued on, still following the mark and noticed him heading into his hotel for the evening, alright then. That gave him time to take care of his other business.

He was still being followed and he let it persist for a few more minutes and then he disappeared, or rather, he jumped down to a lower level and picked up speed to lose his tail. Not too many humans could outrun him when he was jumping from roof to roof and getting really crazy with his sudden jumping and climbing over edges, only to do it again a few buildings later. 

He almost never kept a tail after that, but today, it was a bit different, today they were catching up. Today he was being overtaken.

He swore. This never happened, no one could keep up with him when he started really making the chase difficult.

He turned a corner when another jumping down from above cut him off, well it was a bit startling so the first response was to thrust out his hand in a ridge shot, it was blocked and okay, fair enough, then he threw another punch and that was blocked too.

Now he was getting a bit irritated, so he took a better look at his opponent: a blond woman in...Jedi robes? Well then. This was going to be fun. He thrust another fist at her and she blocked that, he took that chance to throw a kick, she blocked that too. Okay not as fun.

She kept blocking, every single punch thrown, every kick swung her way, they were all blocked, and that was incredibly frustrating, it wasn’t much of a fight if everything was blocked. However he could tell she was tiring, the bad thing about that was that he was getting tired too. 

He threw one more kick this time harder than before, causing her to have to jump back and then flip over to the building on the other side of a large gap of an alley, she was breathing heavily he could see, and still he had no idea why she’d come after him in the first place.

Probably aside from the fact that he looked suspicious, he was wearing a hood and a cloth mask over the lower half of his face, but clearly she was after him for other reasons aside from his fashion choices.

He waited for her to say something, to explain why she was attacking him, but she said nothing just stared at him as she caught her breath. Well, he couldn’t stand around all day, he had to get more recon for his mark, and then make a decision. 

He waited a second longer then he stepped forward and dropped down the gap into the alley noting her look of surprise before she was out of sight, he wondered if she thought he was crazy enough to be suicidal, as it was several hundred stories up. But he’d done this many times before. He grabbed the ledge that was only a few feet below, then kicked off the wall, braced against the wall on the other side and then leaped under an awning and into the open window below, hopefully before she’d seen him.

But either way he found the nearest exit from the building and disappeared, the encounter not leaving that much of an impression.

He finished his recon, found the man was doing some nasty things under the radar of the Senate for those he’d pissed off, and that was good enough for him. He took him out, took his pay, and then disappeared.

After that, however, he started running into her more and more, almost like she was following him. Except it never seemed that way, she always looked just as surprised to see him, they would fight a bit and then move on, almost like it was expected. 

He really would rather not, of course, he was supposed to be a bounty hunter, but mostly an assassin, he wasn’t supposed to encounter someone this many times. It would ruin his reputation, if it got out that he was in a little chase with a Jedi. Or maybe enhance it...huh.

Well either way, he didn’t want to have to deal with her, it just didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t like being around her, and he was sure or that more and more as they met each time.

Now it seemed like every time they came across each other the fights were more and more drawn out, and the look in her eyes, it seemed like she was trying to figure him out, but he wished her luck on that, no one knew who he was. He’d made damn sure of it.

But she...she looked at him like she was trying to tear him apart to know every secret he held, it was disturbing, and that led him to step it up, he didn’t want to kill a Jedi, despite being annoying, he knew they were forces of good in the universe and he wasn’t hungry for death and darkness, he didn’t feel pleasure in taking them out of the universe. But if he had to, at this point he might to it to her, only to save his own ass.

At least that’s what he’d thought when he’d decided to step it up, to move faster and use all of his strength and skills against her, the widening of her eyes came as no surprise, but when she did the same, that was a bit of a surprise.

The fight lasted longer than usual, and ended with Clint holding one of her light swords, lightsabers, or whatever they were called.

“You’re going to lose a hand,” she said, the first words she’d ever said to him, she was worried about his safety, how sweet.

He didn’t reply, only turned it on. The button was kind of obvious, and while he was indeed a very skilled swordsman, he’d never used one made of ‘light’, he had used one that was electrified however, so...he thought he might fare well enough he could get in a shot.

Her face hardened and she activated her other saber, and then waited for an attack, Clint happily obliged.

It felt like forever, but really only lasted a few seconds, and ended with him being the asshole and pulling out a knife and throwing it at her while she was distracted, in shock she threw out her hand to use the Force to knock it away, but she over compensated and Clint went flying. 

It normally wouldn’t be an issue, but the setting of today’s fight was on the top of a building on a seaside cliff, meaning Clint went flying off the end of the building and down, a two hundred meter cliff to the rocky death waiting below.

Now, Clint had never thought he would die like this, honestly, he’d hoping for something a bit more grandiose, maybe more involved, like an epic shootout, or massive ship battle. Not falling off a cliff, from an accident.

He was almost about to accept his fate when he saw her move, impossibly fast to the edge of the building and then wave her hand at him, he was thrust towards the cliff face and he was able to twist himself around and grab a hold of the rocks, or try a few times, it took some attempts before he was no longer falling.

His heart was racing and his mind was static, she’d helped save him- not that he should be surprised, he’d looked up Jedi and knew they preferred not to kill. That it was a last resort.

But still, huh. 

Didn’t stop him from being pissed, he looked up to where she was on the top of the building looking down at him, there was no way he was going to be able to climb all the way back up, he’d fallen at least a third of the way down.

But luckily, he knew there was a tunnel a little bit up and to the right, he’d be able to climb to that. 

And then he was definitely going to get her.

Unfortunately, by the time he managed to get back to the building it was dark, and she was gone, next time, he’d get her. But for now...he’d hang onto the lightsaber that he’d managed to hold onto the whole time and slip in one of his utility pockets.

He was definitely going to keep it as a trophy, and maybe next time, he could take her other one too.

He didn’t encounter her for a long time after that and just kept on with what he was doing, more, in fact. He’d been distracted by her, lost a few possible marks to other hunters. And that was frustrating, he was losing his credentials because of her. He needed to gain all of it back.

And that’s what he did.

He took more marks, the hard and easy ones, and he made sure to be precise, more careful than ever, double checking his information, of course that didn’t stop people from the criminal side of things from talking, and thus the chance of him getting more attention from those wanting to stop him increased.

And that included from her.

Except this time it seemed like she was coming after him specifically, to stop him, he wasn’t sure, but that seemed like the most likely reason.

This time, for once, and what seemed in a way she didn’t like, she attacked first, and actually made him miss a shot. Well needless to say, it pissed him off, and the fight this time was much more heated and this time, there was pain and wounds involved, nothing major or life threatening, but still, he would have to work twice as hard to get the mark now.

They fought hard, and his anger was giving him strength, for once it seemed like he was overpowering her. At least until he she stole back her other saber and started to fight to her full abilities. Once she had them he couldn’t actually hit her, not at great risk to himself, so he went back from a distance and shot at here with his blasters, not that it did much since she deflected every shot.

It wasn’t until the fight reached a part of the city with people that she lost a bit of her gusto. And Clint ultimately still pissed didn’t watch where he was shooting.

Not until he heard the scream of a child.

It was enough of a distraction for one of the deflected blasts to hit him in the shoulder. And then another blast hit one of the buildings and Clint could only see ruble flying and that child, the crying child, rubbing at the tears in his eyes, his blue skin blotchy in fear. 

Clint didn’t think, he moved.

He raced to grab him just before a large chunk of the building fell right where the kid had been standing, Clint was fast enough to roll, holding the child’s head to protect it and get him out of the way. 

The kid sniffled and looked up at him, eyes wet with tears, but he warbled a thank you just before his frantic father scooped him up out of Clint’s arms and ran.

Clint let out a breath, his body shaking from the adrenaline, he swallowed, thankfully the blast really had not been big, no one was hurt, and there was barely any real damage, the large piece of building that had fallen had been cracked to begin with, and the blast had only been a catalyst in it’s fall.

He stood there, for far too long, but luckily his face and head were still covered by his mask and hood, so still unrecognizable, but likely his attire was known as Hawkeye and- yup, he could hear sirens headed his way.

He had to disappear again, and he did, he disappeared into the crowd and made for the nearest ship port, he was so focused on getting away he didn’t realize the Jedi was still on his ass.

She managed to push him into an alcove away from eyes.

“I saw that,” she said before he could push her away from him, “You’re a good man.”

He didn’t reply. He never spoke. Not like this, actually, he hadn’t spoken in a very long time.

“Why do you use your skills for this? For death, when you could do some good in the world?” she asked, “You could make a difference,” and he rolled his eyes, she frowned when she noticed, “What? Heard it all before? Wait let me guess, you’ve seen too much to be on the right side? You have too much blood on your hands already to change, your life is already embraced with darkness, hitting any nerves yer?” She drawled, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

He pressed his lips together under his mask, because wow she was talky, not to mention sarcastic. Were Jedi allowed to be sarcastic? But he would snark back at her, at least once he would have, but now, he had promised himself to not get attached, and that meant not interacting with people more than he needed to. When he did, it made him feel more like a person. And that was not conducive to killing people.

“Not very talkative are you?” she asked and sighed, “Well...fine, you can talk in your own time but...” her eyes went to his shoulder and suddenly it twanged in pain and he remembered he’d been hit, “Did you nee-” her hand reached forward and his own snapped out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from touching him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, sincere, “I shouldn’t have without your permission,” and no she shouldn’t have, Clint thought, she also should mind her own damn business.

“Look if you ever need-” she started, but Clint used that chance to lunge and then send her reeling back, it was enough of a chance for him to get away and dive into one of the leaving transports so she couldn’t follow.

He let out a breath and slid down the side before poking at his shoulder, cringing at the pain, damn. 

Today was not a good day.

What was probably worse is after that, she stopped trying to fight with him, and just talked at him and oh, he thought the attacking was annoying, no, the talking was worse. Like she thought she could talk him out of being an assassin? Bah.

But what was even worse was that he couldn’t rid himself of her.

Now, now she was around him  _ all the time _ . 

Somehow, she could find him anywhere, and that was the most irritating thing he had ever experienced in his life, and he had once hidden amongst Gungans.

He would be about to take a shot and poof there she was, to distract him, she’d gotten him the first two times, but eventually he started using it to his advantage, he had his bowcaster poised for the shot she pops up and whoops in his jump, he’d pull the trigger, the look on her face after he did that had almost been good enough to make him laugh. She had looked so beyond frustrated, ah it was worth it. Almost.

But still she was always there, talking to him, about anything and everything, he never replies, of course because that would be dumb. But good goddess did she not make it easy.

He was on another hunt, actually stakeout, he’d found out his mark did some pretty bad stuff in the background, and he would actually be saving people with this shot. She didn’t see it that way, of course.

“I don’t see why you can’t use your long distance sighting for something helpful...like a watchman,” he turned his head to arch an eyebrow at her, she grinned, reading the look for what he’d meant. “Or a pilot, I’m sure you could learn, and be very good at it.”

He rolled his eyes and looked back to his mark, he already knew how, and was in fact a very good one, but...he’d rather not, not after how he lost his brother. Not after how he ended up here.

“There is nothing gained by taking a life, you know,” she murmured, “I see-” He shoved a datapad in her face before she started this time, it had all of the evidence he’d complied showing how awfully the mark had treated people, including members of his own staff. The results were not pretty.

“How did-...why didn’t you report this to authori-” he pointed at the source information, the authorities, she was suggesting he report it to, it had been reported, and then swept under the rug, thanks to a large donation. 

She made that frustrated face again, he smirked in amusement under his mask, eyes watching the very large human moving around his excessive hotel room. He really only felt sorry about these things for those unlucky persons chosen to clean up after him.

“There are still those who can take care of this,” she said and he wanted to sigh, she was so stubborn, “You can choose not to do this, there is always a choice.”

He turned to her again, his blue eyes meeting hers, and his finger pulled the trigger.

He watched her eyes widen in shock and then briefly flash in betrayal and for some unfathomable reason, he didn’t like that.

But he didn’t let it bother him, instead he started to pack up, because well he couldn’t be found here, he put everything away, and started walking away, then noticed she wasn’t following, he stopped at the door and looked back at her, she was still holding the holopad.

He waited a moment then shrugged and walked out, but then he stopped because if she didn’t leave, she could get blamed, and that was not really okay in his book. He went back in took the holopad from her hands and then pointed at the door. 

“What?” she asked frowning, and he rolled his eyes, it was times like this that talking might be useful, but he’d probably just swear at her in Huttese. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door instead of bothering to try miming like an idiot. She gave him an odd look.

“You know things would be a lot easier if you just talked- unless you can’t. But I get the feeling you can, you just choose not to, why is that?”

He shook his head in exasperation. Still dragging her along. And they were three blocks away from the building when the local task force stormed it. Man, they were slow.

“...you didn’t want me to get blamed,” she said, smiling, her eyes twinkling in a pleased way, and oh great here it comes, “That is incredibly sweet, they wouldn’t have blamed me, they would have thought I was there tracking the assassin, which technically I am,” she said shaking her head.

He sighed, jeeze, he was regretting this already, he was regretting _ everything _ already, he should have been a farmer, just to avoid the annoying Jedi on his tail. Except that he wasn’t really bothered by her presence, when she was nearby he was...comfortable. But at the same time it was the complete opposite.

But really, that was the start of the end, he was used to her tagging along now and would wait for her, she came everywhere, almost, and it was becoming increasingly terrifying. He’d almost taken his mask off with here in the same room. That ended in him avoiding her for about three weeks, until she got sick of it and didn’t let him sulk.

Despite her presence he continued to do what he wanted, assuming she would eventually give up after awhile. But she never did, she only tried harder, in fact, he was pretty sure she was slipping him information, or people to look into, (he assumed it was the people he decided against going after which there was somehow an increase of).

Currently they were on a planet with a lot of political unrest (aside from the whole Separatist thing), and apparently, she was actually doing something there, he decided to follow her, well, from a distance, it was far enough to watch the proceedings, and also, to watch as one of the rebels to plant a bomb.

He had no idea when it would go off, but he knew that if Morse stayed where she was she’d get hit.

He abandoned his nest and moved as fast as possible to get to the capitol building, and then realized he would have to talk, well, if it saved people’s lives, he could live with that.

He had seen her in the west window, near balconies, and he snuck in through the balcony, but didn’t know where she’d walked to while he’d made his way over, he tried hard to think where she went and went with his intuition, going left, he heard her talking a minute later and knew he was right.

She saw him coming, her eyes widening in surprise, “Hawk...what is it?” she asked, using the name she’d dubbed him after hearing him being referred to as Hawkeye, but it was not something he did, coming after her, he was opening his mouth to tell her exactly what it was when the bomb went off.

It shook the building, Bobbi gestured the two ambassadors away from the shaking walls immediately, trying to get them to safety. Meanwhile Clint just didn’t want anyone to get crushed by possible falling chunks of stone ceiling (that was not a good way to go, even if he had killed people that way, whoops).

He was running after them when another blast shook the building closer to them, and that seemed to be enough for the old place as things started falling. What was even worse, he could now hear blaster sounds coming from down the hallway. 

Great, juuust great.

He pulled on of his own blasters out and raced after Bobbi, watching her back while she did her best to guard the ambassadors, But with the crumbling building and the echoing blasts from the adjoining hall, it was hard and really it should have been pretty obvious that the falling ceiling would start coming down on them.

Clint cursed, how could he- her other saber, she was only using one at the moment, and the ceiling- “JEDI!” he yelled, for the first time in a long time and yup there went his voice cracking after months of disuse but it was enough, he opened his hand at her while he ran jumping up against the wall, and then she threw her other saber at him, it went straight to his hand a second later it was activated and slicing through the giant piece of stone, splitting it several ways so it fell around them, and not on them. 

He landed a bit hard, but well enough, he looked up to see Bobbi looking at him, proudly? What the heck.

And then there were more shots ringing out, “What the fuck are you doing?! Don’t just stand there!” he snarled at her just as she narrowly avoided getting shot. He threw her saber back at her and then pulled out his blaster and started returning fire, and that seemed to throw them for a loop, considering Jedi didn’t carry blasters, and the ambassadors were pacifists.

He however, was neither, and was also incredibly pissed. 

He shot them down one by one, fast and efficient, and when not more returning shots came, he lowered his blaster and looked back at Bobbi noting the wide eyed terrified looks he’d earned from the ambassadors.

“Come on,” he grunted. And they followed, probably because Bobbi followed, and he guarded them to wherever it was they wanted to go, while the whole planet went to shit around them, but in the end the rebels fell and negotiations started and he was ready to not ever do stupid shit like that again.

And he decided on doing that, on changing so she couldn’t find him again, but that didn’t seem possible, she found him, again, after two straight weeks of travelling, of changing ships and going randomly, she still found him.

He was in the middle of getting undressed when he heard her come in, and he knew it was her, somehow, he knew.

He had his mask off however, and his hood, great, so he kept his back to her. Because he wasn’t about to just-

“I always pictured you as a redhead,” she said and Clint flinched, unintentionally and covered it up by bending down to grab his towel.

“Go away,” he told her, “I don’t want to deal with you right now.”

“I know,” she replied, moving into the room further, but still giving him his space, to lean against the table, “But that’s why I’m here...it’s time to stop running.”

He snorted, and headed into the bathroom, “You’re very cliche, you know that?”

“It happens from time to time in my line of work,” she drawled back then sighed, “Please Hawk...I...” she sighed, “Do you know why I’ve been following you all this time?”

“You want to annoy me to death?”

She snorted this time, “No, that’s just a perk,” she replied and dammit his mask was out there, she continued despite the fact that he was standing in the door, still not facing her, “I’m here because you are meant for more than this, you have a choice to do more, a choice not many have.”

“...now you’re the crazy nonsense talking cliche,” he grunted, “Are you done?”

“You’re acting like the brooding one in the story,” she snarked back then sighed, probably shaking her head, “Haven’t you ever noticed you have...abilities?” 

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I am the assassin that never misses,” he replied, “I have-”

“Stop being an ass, I mean...you have feelings sometimes? You...make a jump that seems impossible?” she asked softly, “You sense...things?”

He frowned, she wasn’t implying what he thought she was but...no she had to be, there only had to be a reason for her to not kill him after all he’d done. Because she thought he was...what special? Now that was really cliche, next he just needed her to tell him he was going to save the universe with his special powers. He rolled his eyes.

“You maybe don’t believe me, but I’ve seen it...you have a sharp sense, you have better reflexes than most, you’re fast, and strong,” she insisted, “You’re more attuned to the universe than other people. I know this, I’ve been with you this whole time to gauge it, and I know how much good you could do with what you have.”

He really wanted to just get angry at her to tell her she was a fool for taking all the time she had to just follow him around for such a stupid reason, for talking to him, for out stubborning him, for not leaving him alone. He spent so much time alone. But...he couldn’t could he? Because he was the fool.

The truth was, he was tired, so tired of this. He didn’t like what he did, he never had, he just...he’d started and didn’t know how to stop. He didn’t know anything else.

And she was right, he could...he had always put his ‘sense’ down to intuition though,he ‘d never given it much thought, but...he sure as hell wasn’t Jedi material.

He sighed and then turned around and frowned at her, “I don’t have to wear the dumb outfits, do I?”

She laughed, the look on her face lighting up her eyes, and the lines around her mouth from laughter, she was beautiful, and she had taken it upon herself to help him, he was pretty sure he really was the fool.

“No,” she grinned, “But...you do have to tell me something,” she said and he arched an eyebrow at her, “Your name.”

“Ah...” he swallowed, he hadn’t said his real name in years, “Clint....Clint Barton.”

She held out her hand, “It’s nice to meet you Clint, I’m going to look forward to getting to know the real you.”

“Eh...I’m going to look forward to making you guess which one it is,” he replied a little smirk as he shook her hand.

~

It took him some time to really find out who he wanted to be, and Bobbi, she was there the whole time.

It was weird, not being alone, it took him ages to even manage to nap around her, he was paranoid to the point of mania, according her, and he couldn’t exactly argue. He’d had to be, long before the name ‘Hawkeye’ was feared, there were bounties on his own head. There were probably some now, but no one was fool enough to try and claim it anymore.

Bobbi taught him meditation which he thought was dumb, and wasted time, at first, but after awhile it was kind of calming, kind of like sleep, but without the sleep. Well he might start to meditate more if it let him rest.

She taught him some very minor force control, and well, he was magic that was cool, it was nowhere near her level of course, she’d been trained since she was a baby, and he would have been too, had anyone bothered to test him, but he’d lived on a very small farming planet at the very outer edge of the Outer Rim, no one gave a damn about people out there. She of course thought it had to be another reason, there’d been something else in store for him. As not everyone with potential was meant to be a Jedi, naturally she asked about his past, perhaps there was some hint to what he was meant to do. He’d told no one his life, not a single living soul knew his past, and he did want to keep it that way, but...for some reason he felt that he could tell her.

He’d lived with his family, father, mother and brother Barney, helping on the farm, until their parents died when Clint was 5 from a disease. His brother being much older at 10, took them elsewhere to get money, as they couldn’t stay on the farm any longer. They took odd jobs here and there for years until they had saved up enough to buy a ship. It was a smaller ship, just the perfect size for the two of them, and they started freighting, taking supplies and goods to other planets, it was good pay, and they were able to restore the ship to prime condition, thanks to their knowledge of mechanics from working on the farming machines back home.

They did well, they weren’t rolling in credits, but it was enough for them to be comfortable and happy.

But apparently that was too good for some others, when Clint was 14 they were attacked, boarded and raided by some pirates, his brother being fast acting shoved Clint into one of the hidden cargo holds, where he wouldn’t be seen, but where he could see everything, and that meant he saw the face of the man who stabbed his brother. After taking everything of value aboard they left, leaving the ship to waste.

Clint did his best to save his big brother, flying to the nearest station with blood on his hands, begging for help, but it was too late, Barney was dead. Leaving Clint alone, and without a purpose. But he knew Barney wouldn’t want him to give up, so he fixed up their ship and headed back out to do more of what they had, except this time, he made a mistake, and the pirates that found the ship, took it, and him.

He wasn’t killed, instead, after accidentally proving how good of a shot he was, he was trained, in everything. Hand to hand, weapons, espionage, under the table dealings, cheating, everything, they all took turns teaching him whatever, he had no idea why, not until they started sending him to do their dirty work after three years of him being with them, he didn’t like it, but he had to. He’d made a deal with the captain that they wouldn’t hurt his ship if he did what they wanted, so he did.

That was until the day they met up with another band of pirates these ones had a very familiar leader. Clint couldn’t let that stand, and didn’t let them live. Any of them.

At the age of 17 he became a murderer, and with taking out bad men, those who had stolen from him, taken away his brother, he felt justified, but couldn’t stop.

He started out small, just taking out bad people, until he was noted for being very good, then he was paid to take out anyone, but the first time he tried taking out someone who was more innocent than bad...he couldn’t do it.

That was when he started vetting his marks. It took longer but it cleared the board somewhat, he got paid a lot, he was able to keep his ship in a good dock, with no one asking questions, and he could live comfortably wherever he wanted.

The years dragged on, and suddenly he’d been doing this for ten years. 

But then along came Bobbi.

 

She listened to his story and didn’t judge him she just listened and even place her hand on his, understanding, not condoning, just understanding. And now she was here to help him find a better way. In the dark it seemed he’d still been doing good, taking out a few not good people, but at the same time in the light, doing it the wrong way. 

So here he was, stuck with a Jedi being all mushy and trying to figure out his place in the universe.

“It’s all very Mekadine, isn’t it?” he drawled, referring to a popular story author, who was big on the bad seeing the ways of the good and becoming better people. Clint was lounging on a bed, eating some local fruits, which were delicious.

“Mmm, yes, except the difference is that you were always good, just making bad choices,” Bobbi replied from the other side of the bed, “You’ve always had potential for good inside you.”

“Isn’t the way of the Jedi supposed to be balance? So doesn’t that mean there was always potential for bad too?” he asked looking at her, she only had her basic robes on, not the whole get up, to be comfortable.

“Yes and no,” she replied, “You once had a great amount of anger, at the one who killed your brother, but after time, it slowly ebbed away, leaving the pain, however what you do with that pain determines whether your potential would be...good or bad, I suppose, though that is all very cut and dry, there is more to it.”

“Yeah...I killed people for a living,” he replied, “Isn’t that...you know...bad?”

“Well...yes...but you didn’t kill innocents, you only killed those you had evidence of doing bad things, and essentially helped many people in doing so,” she replied, “We do the same, except for the killing, and you can do that too.”

“But no robes,” he said and she rolled her eyes, leaning over to steal a berry.

“No robes,” she said shaking her head, “You’re too old to be trained as a Jedi, you can wear whatever you like.”

“Oh neat,” he replied looking at her face, now that it was closer, he couldn’t look away, even if he tried, the way her hair fell across her forehead, her eyelashes on her cheeks, her nose….her lips.

They had been spending more time with each other than ever before, and to say Clint wasn’t attracted to her, would be a bold faced lie, Jedi Knight Bobbi Morse was a shining light, she was kind and patient (most of the time), and sassy and funny and Clint really enjoyed being around her now that he wasn’t trying to avoid her.

Another lie would be to say he hadn’t fallen in love with her.

He had, and he’d done so hard, she was everything, beautiful and smart, and a Jedi, she could be no better, and he really did want to make her happy.

She was still leaning over and Clitn, the idiot that he was pushed up suddenly and pressed their lips together, she froze for a moment then pulled back, staring at him.

“Shit, sorry!” he stammered, “I shouldn’t have-fuck, I’m-”

“No...it’s alright just...don’t do it again,” she said slowly and he nodded, feeling like a big pile of bantha poodoo.

There was a long moment of silence and then she reached out and pressed his chin up until he was looking at her, “In another life…” she started, “I’m sure...we may have been wonderful together...but in this one, it is forbidden for a Jedi Knight to have attachments.”

“Oh...yeah, sure,” he replied because what? That sounded awful. But who was he to judge? Oh wait he was the idiot who had definitely fallen for the ‘can’t do attachements’ Jedi warrior. 

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand, “So did you have any plans?”

“Um...oh... I was gonna restore my ship, I guess…” he shrugged, going back to his fruit and not meeting her eyes, “Might as well travel, I like that part still, seen more places than ever thought I would thanks to the whole killing people thing.”

“Alright,” she said taking her hand back, “It sounds like a good idea, travelling will bring you to the places you might need to be.”

“Yikes,” he sighed, “You know how dumb that sounds? I dunno if I’m really going to do something important every time I land somewhere.”

She laughed, “Of course not,” she said, “But you never know where you might be able to make a difference.”

“Uh-huh,” Clint replied and then shrugged, “Well...I guess I could be a smuggler too,” he said, rubbing his chin and smirking when she frowned, “I still like money you know, and as a smuggler I’ll have a lot more access to wrongdoing.”

“...fine, I don’t approve but fine,” she sighed and gave her an amused look.

“Sorry, Mom,” he snorted, “I didn’t realize you had to approve.”

“Ah...well, I don’t...but...oh never mind,” she huffed and he peeked at her, her cheeks were pink, and wow, she was cute.

“Aaanyway,” he said to distract himself,“What...you got like special permission to lead me on the right path or something?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, “The Jedi Council thought you’d be more useful to the universe dead, but I convinced them otherwise.”

“Wow, sounds like some nice people,” he snorted, “I thought you guys didn’t do the whole killing thing.”

“Not usually no...but we are at war,” she said and he nodded.

“True,” he hummed, “War changes even the best of people, hmm?”

“It has a tendency to do that, yes,” she agreed, “But even the best people will do the right thing in moments of-”

“Right when I think you’re normal you start spouting philosophy, really I think I’m good,” he said, “I don’t think you need to philosophize at me anymore,” he said and then he watched her face fall, and felt like an asshole. “I mean It’s not that I don’t enjoy it I just-”

“No...it’s okay you’re right, I also have other duties to attend to,” she said but she smiled again, “But don’t think you’re free of me yet, Hawk, I’ll be checking in periodically, just to be safe.”

“Oh, goody,” he drawled, but something in his chest loosened, something he hadn’t even realized been tight, it was just good to know he’d see her again. 

“You’d better be on your best behaviour,” she said, “You’ll never know when I’ll drop in,” she said and he grinned.

“Will too! I can sense you now, remember?” he snickered.

“Oh blast, I taught you too much,” she muttered and he cackled, but she smiled at him. Proud. She knew he would do well, and even just helping one person to find the right path was rewarding in this time.

He grinned at her and she grinned back. Yes, things would be good for him, she knew. She hoped, she would always be here to make sure he was.

Even if that was all she could do for him.

  
  


Clint, now a smuggler, and also freighter, he knew how to play things right to get away with the smuggling, and he was charming too, smooth talking, manipulative when necessary, some of the things he’d learning for the pirates, he knew what he was doing.

He made it out pretty good, his ship, now better than it had been before, faster, more durable, and definitely worth more than what it looked like it was. His ship was his baby, it always had been, something his brother and him had worked so hard, to make it worthy of flight, something they had pride in, and when his brother was gone...it took Clint a long time before he could really be in the ship without breaking down. But eventually he was able to accept his brother wouldn’t want him to let this hurt him, that he should go on.

So now here he was, more than ten years after his death, finally getting back to what they had before, and giving the ship the love and attention it deserved. He hoped his brother wasn’t too pissed at him, wherever he was.

Ah well, at least he got her eventually.

Naturally only a year after he finally managed to get this life back into a semblance of good, the shit hit the fan.

 

It had been a routine stop, picking up a part from a friend to keep his ship in the best order possible, really it was on Coruscant, in a decent hangar bay, he had no real reason to worry, so he’d looked around a bit, checked out a few merchants, made some friends, normal stop, really.

And then headed back, because he still had some stops to make, to drop off some shipments, but when he’d returned to the hangar bay.

His ship was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> And this is where Bounty Hunter Natasha comes in, having been the one to steal his ship. Clint hunts her down and is sorely tempted to kill her, but he doesn't, then they get into some messes and have to stick together and end up just sticking around.  
> This RP is taking place on tumblr.


End file.
